﻿Greenwich Sw﻿im Committee

To: Island Beach 2017 registered swimmers, The unfortunate cancellation of this year's Island Beach swim is the first time in more than 20 years that the event has had to be cancelled due to weather. Going into Friday evening, the weather forecast for Saturday morning called for significant rain fall and scattered thunderstorms, and of course swimmer safety is and was our primary concern. We were also concerned for our buoy deployment team who need about an hour to set up the course and their being out in such conditions. Given that many people drive a long distance to attend our race; and the setup lead time necessary to ready the race – we wanted to give as much advanced notice as possible to everyone involved.We have been asked about rain dates and unfortunately there are just too many moving parts to have a rain date for an event like. Between scheduling the ferry; ordering the food; securing the Red Cross and Greenwich ambulance service; retaining the many lifeguards (many of whom are beginning to go back to school) needed to maintain course safety; the marine police; our volunteer boaters; the Town of Greenwich (all our permits); our insurance (which does not allow for a rain date); our chip timing company; and the many other volunteers we have that help us run the race – all contribute to the difficulties in having a rain date.We would like to extend a $40 credit to all those participants who signed up for the two mile race which could be applied to either of our races in 2018. The credit will only be made available on mail in entries and will not be extended at Day of Race signups. We apologize to all those who were looking forward to participating in our two mile race and hope to see you next year.Thank you,Greenwich Swim Committee